Nine Reasons Why Walking Dead Jumped the Shark in S6

While many may disagree with me, I am going to go on record as saying Walking Dead jumped the shark in Season six. Gimble is Richie Cunningham and Kirkman is the Fonz. Jumped the shark.  Instead of my ranting in a big opening paragraph, I decided to make the list. Here it is. My nine reasons and moments I believe contributed to Walking Dead jumping the shark in Season Six.

WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS

The Glen Dead Fake Out

So Glen gets blasted with the blood of Nick, falls off the dumpster and we watch as it looks like he’s torn apart by zombies. Was there anyone who actually bought that? If they did, surely after we saw nothing for three episodes they knew he wasn’t dead. What was the point in that?

Bound by the comics and limited in imagination

It is no secret that for some unknown reasons they cater to the graphic novel fans, inadvertently isolating those who do not read the comics. They cater so much, that any deviation is so slight, there is no surprise. Hell, who needs to watch the show when there’s a big fat bunch of books telling you exactly what happens. Kirkman has his chance to right his wrong, to make up for things he regretted in the books. But he backs off, I think because they won’t let him. Hey AMC, they are graphic novels, not storyboards, no need to follow frame by frame.

Traded Shock and ‘awwww’ for Shock and ‘oh, ok’

Remember the good old days when we didn’t see it coming? Dale died and we cried? Hershel got it and we screamed. The won with the first fake out (Judith) and never went back. Now they follow a formula. Introduce a character, feature them in an episode and kill them at the end of the episode. Or kill them in a way we squirm, like having a kids head bit off. They won’t kill main characters anymore. Main cast is safe.  More than likely the Lucille killing will either be a lesser grade character. The brutal beating is the ‘shock’, no sad ‘awww’

Fire them all

The writing is sub par. It’s lazy and relies on a prewritten outline in the form of graphic novels. Been there done that. They are all so full of themselves, they need fired. I REFUSE to believe someone as talented as Kirkman has a say so in the writing. And Greg Nictero. Seriously, Dude, cut the hair.

They haven’t killed Daryl Physically

Why is Norman Reedus so protected. I understood in Seasons one and two, possibly parts of three. But the last few seasons he has become nothing but an aging man, who needs a haircut and a bath. He has no purpose in the show. His character is no longer fun to watch. Might as well kill him off since his character died long ago.

Season Six Finale

It was ninety minutes of watching “Wheels on the RV go round and round’. A game of cat and mouse interlaced with okay scenes of Morgan and Carol. I would have rather of watched them more. But instead it was the same stupid story, take this road, blocked. They had other story lines. I mean, Daryl’s blood splattered on the scene at the end of Fifteen for goodness sakes. Yet, we see nothing, hear nothing until the end of the nine minutes. What happened to him? Where was he shot.  Let’s face it AMC let those spoilers out early (Something they never do) because they knew the finale would be a bust.

The Cliffhanger Ending

I’m not talking about it being a cliffhanger, I am talking about the way they did it. Good god, if they want to keep us in suspense about who gets the bat, can they at least make it look decent. What was up with those bad, Microsoft Paint blood rolls on the screen layover. Did they run out of money?

They have no idea who gets the bat

The packing of the RV was lame. All to what? Give us more people to guess about for six months? Adding more credence to the fact they will bat off a lesser known. Everyone had a reason for being in the RV. Abe and Sasha, I get it. Aaron? He said, “I owe her”, what did I miss. And why in the world would Rick have Carl in the RV? Knowing the Saviors were out there? Fr. Gabe has proven himself chump more than champ. I’d trust Carl with the Judith. If they do get balls and kill of Glen or Daryl, they’ll open Season seven with Daryl getting shot. Doing their time lapse thing there. But they don’t know. Not yet.

Negan

The Graphic Novels fans have been waiting for him. Salivating over his arrival. He is supposed to be the worst, the worst of the worst. Someone so evil he made cocky Rick into a trembling fool. I didn’t get it. Yeah, Rick was scared, but of what? So, that was Negan? I saw a skinny, pretty boy, over acting in designer pants. Yeah, he was skinny, the bulky coat was an illusion. He carried a bat. He said, “Pee Pee City.” For real? Oooooh, thems scary words. What the hell kind of villain says, “Pee Pee City.” And it makes the hero tremble. I got so damn annoyed with the nine minute, over the top monologue, I was shouting at the screen, “Hit someone already.” Again, trying to stay true to the comic was a fail here. The Novel readers may have loved Pee Pee City, but some of us thought it was ridiculous. Nine minutes. Enough.

And that’s it. Jumped the Shark. If they want to take it all back, toss out the comics and start fresh. New ideas.  Surprise the viewers instead of giving them a visual of what they read.